Report: Mario Bautista in for John Lineker, meets Cory Sandhagen at UFC Brooklyn

The Brooklyn changes continue for the UFC ahead of its first event in the ESPN era.

With bantamweight John Lineker (31-8 MMA, 12-3 UFC) out of his fight against Cory Sandhagen (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at UFC on ESPN+ 1, Sandhagen now will fight newcomer Mario Bautista (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), according to a report from FloCombat.com. UFC officials have not made a formal announcement of the change.

In addition, a change could be coming for Chance Rencountre (12-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with Randy Brown (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) reportedly out of their welterweight bout to open the card.

UFC on ESPN+ 1 takes place Jan. 19 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card streams on ESPN+ following four prelims on the standard ESPN cable network and early prelims on ESPN+.

The 25-year-old Bautista, who trains at The MMA Lab in Phoenix, stayed perfect this past October with a decision win under the Combate Americas banner. It was the first time he had to go the distance as a pro. Prior to that, he had a pair of stoppage wins in the LFA.

Sandhagen made his UFC debut a year ago and picked up a win over Austin Arnett in a featherweight fight. He then dropped to bantamweight and picked up a “Fight of the Night” bonus in a wild back-and-forth victory over Iuri Alcantara. It is not known if he’ll get a new opponent to stay on the card.

Lineker is 8-1 in his past nine appearances, with the lone loss in that run coming to current UFC bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw. The nature of his injury is not known.